You could (barely) argue that the libertarian policy has benefits that overbalances these costs, but there is no denying that the costs are real and big.
Accepting for the sake of argument that the costs are ‘real and big’ you seem to be leaping to the conclusion that therefore something must be done. The costs are not generally imposed on me though and not everyone is a utilitarian. I don’t see any reason why I should be concerned about costs that others impose on themselves through their own bad decisions.
I don’t think this particular example is a very cost effective way to raise my own status. This kind of thing is obviously a cost effective way for politicians to raise their status since they generally receive a disproportionate share of the credit and the costs are shared widely so they pay a relatively small proportion of the cost. That is why we see so much of this kind of proposed regulation (of course proposing it and then not following through is arguably even more cost effective than actually passing legislation on the issue).
I can think of much more cost effective (and more fun) ways to raise my own status in those contexts where I care about it.
Accepting for the sake of argument that the costs are ‘real and big’ you seem to be leaping to the conclusion that therefore something must be done. The costs are not generally imposed on me though and not everyone is a utilitarian. I don’t see any reason why I should be concerned about costs that others impose on themselves through their own bad decisions.
Because helping other people with their problems will help you gain status?
I don’t think this particular example is a very cost effective way to raise my own status. This kind of thing is obviously a cost effective way for politicians to raise their status since they generally receive a disproportionate share of the credit and the costs are shared widely so they pay a relatively small proportion of the cost. That is why we see so much of this kind of proposed regulation (of course proposing it and then not following through is arguably even more cost effective than actually passing legislation on the issue).
I can think of much more cost effective (and more fun) ways to raise my own status in those contexts where I care about it.